Tibetan / Vajrayana

Vajrayana Buddhism is most closely associated with Tibet and can be characterized by the figure of the siddha, the master whose spiritual realization is so profound that he or she has power over the phenomenal world, and in whom the profundity and vastness of absolute truth is fully and completely manifested. Many of our most well-known authors come from this tradition of Tibetan Buddhism .

[Note: The tags for the various schools are not definitive as many books span multiple traditions, etc. They are meant to use as a starting point for exploring this collection.]

The foundations of Vajrayana practice are laid out with eloquence and precision here by one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist masters of our age. His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s commentary on the preliminary practices (ngöndro) is informed by his profound realization and wide-ranging scholarship, and illuminated with an array of quotations from the Vinaya, Sutra, and Tantra traditions. In addition to the commentary on the outer and inner preliminary practices, he… Read More

The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet’s greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own.In this, the… Read More

Devotion to one’s teacher is the lifeblood of the Vajrayana path. Because the guru can and will use whatever means it takes to wake us up, this relationship may require us to drop our most deeply held beliefs and expectations. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse addresses some of the most misunderstood aspects of this powerful relationship and gives practical advice on making the most of this precious opportunity for transformation. Through stories… Read More

Let compassion and fearlessness guide you and you’ll live wisely and effectively in good times and bad. Here Pema Chödrön offers a powerful method to awaken these qualities using a practice called lojong, which has been a primary focus of her teachings and personal practice for many years. In this boxed set, she provides all the tools needed to practice it in your own life. It includes:an introduction to the… Read More

Why do things happen the way they do in our lives? How do we create the causes for a happy life? The Buddhist practice of mind training gives us the answer to these questions: it involves overcoming our self-centered attitude and replacing it with an attitude that cherishes others. This, in turn, leads us to act in ways that naturally lead away from suffering and toward happiness—in short, to create… Read More

Visionary Encounters presents four chapters from the collection known as The Golden Teaching of Trenpa Namkha, a cycle of Dzogchen teachings recovered or rediscovered by the thirteenth-century master Shense Lhaje, an important scripture-revealer in the Bön tradition. These chapters include unusual autobiographical detail, providing a window into the daily life of this "wandering beggar," as he calls himself, as well as a record of the extraordinary messages he received from… Read More

The path of trekchö is the way of directly and thoroughly cutting through the misconceptions of samsara to lay bare the primordial purity of the nature of mind. This powerful practice is illuminated by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in his commentary on an essential text based on the atiyoga dzogchen instructions of the outstanding nineteenth-century master Patrul Rinpoche.Three Words That Strike the Vital Point is the famous seminal statement by Garap… Read More

The awakened life is the essence and aim of the Buddhist teachings, according to Anam Thubten, and this book is a guide to cultivating the awakened mind and heart that allows this wonderful kind of life to happen. He illuminates the path to awakened living in a way that’s concise and completely accessible to anyone of any background—reflective of the diverse backgrounds of the students who attend his popular talks… Read More

The mind-training practices contained in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism have never before been presented in the English language. The main text translated here, The Steps to Liberation, will be of great interest to Western practitioners, since its instructions are pithy and direct, and experiential rather than scholarly. The contemplations on core Buddhist principles like impermanence and karma, intended for beginning meditators, unfold as dramatic stories in which the… Read More

A complex topic is here made crystal clear through the heartfelt teaching of one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century. With Pure Appearance Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche offers an overview of Tibetan tantric practice that explains its concepts, clarifies its terminology, and shows how its myriad pieces fit together, including an extensive teaching on the bardos, or “between states”—essential for those new to the topic and a… Read More